The exclusion of Olympiakos from the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League takes them into the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League and at the same time to the draw for the playoffs, which will take place next Tuesday (2:00 p.m.) in Nyon. Switzerland.

Piraeus will take part in the draw together with Slovan as a pair as the draw precedes the matches of the 3rd qualifying round (Thursday 4th of August, the first matches, Thursday 11th of the month, the second).

For the first time in history, a Greek team will feature in the Europa League play-off draw following organizational restructuring. This is a very special draw that is not based on strong underpower or a multiplier, but on groups of four different priorities.

UEFA changed the format for the 2021–2024 cycle due to the addition of the Europa Conference League and the general change in qualifiers in their inter-club competitions. The European Confederation introduced the four-group method, to which it gave a priority number. The groups are formed as follows:

• The first priority group is the one containing the seven teams with a cup ticket (even if they didn’t win the cup) from countries ranked 9th and 9th in the 2021 UEFA ranking (used for the competitions of ). -15 stood the season 2022-2023 )
• The next priority group includes the six losers of the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League champions path, i.e. the teams eliminated from the round where Maccabi Haifa is in place of Olympiakos
• The third priority group includes the five winners of the Europa League 3rd qualifying round, from the path of the champions, i.e. the winners of the round where Olympiacos now stands
• Finally, the group with the lowest priority includes the two winners from the main path of the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League

Understandably, only the highest priority group has groups and no pairs. The remaining groups will be filled with pairs as the draw takes place before the UEFA competitions 3rd qualifying round matches.

The way the lottery is conducted is also different. It starts with the two balls from the last group, which is drawn with two teams from the group with the highest priority. The five pair balls from the third priority group are then drawn with the remaining five teams from the first priority group. Finally, the six pairs of the second priority group are drawn against each other.

The seven contenders

With this data, Olympiacos’ potential opponents will be known in next Tuesday’s draw, as the Greek champions (paired with Slovan) are sure to be in the third priority group.

The “Red-Whites” meet a team from the first priority group, ie a representative of a country with a high position in the UEFA rankings. Gent from Belgium, Austria from Austria, hearts from Scotland, Omonia from Cyprus, Sivasspor from Turkey, Dnipro from Ukraine or Silkeborg from Denmark are the seven potential Olympiakos opponents who are one step ahead of the Europa League groups.

The first games of the playoffs will take place on Thursday August 18th and the second on Thursday August 25th of the month and if Olympiacos manages to get two qualifiers and reach the group stage then it can hope to even to stand at the head of the group.

Sportish presents the panorama of the Europa League 2022-2023 in detail:

Third qualifying round matches (14 teams)

WAY OF THE CHAMPIONS (10 TEAMS)

• Olympiacos (Greece) – Slovan (Slovakia)
• Malme (Sweden) – Dudelange (Luxembourg)
• shamrock Rover (Ireland) – Sweep (North Macedonia)
• Linfeld (Northern Ireland) – Zurich (Switzerland)
• Maribor (Slovenia) – Helsinki (Finland)

MAIN TRAIL (4 GROUPS)

• AEK Larnaca (Cyprus) – They were partisans (Serbia)
• Fenerbahçe (Turkey) – Slovak (Czech Republic)

* The first games will take place on Thursday 4th August and the second on Thursday 11th August.

Playoffs (10 teams)

FIRST PRIORITY GROUP (7 GROUPS)

• Gent (Belgium)
• Austria (Austria)
• hearts (Scotland)
• unity (Cyprus)
• Sivasspor (Turkey)
• Dnipro (Ukraine)
• Silkeborg (Denmark)

SECOND PRIORITY GROUP (6 GROUPS)

• Maccabi Haifa (Israel) or Apollo Limassol (Cyprus)
• Karabakh (Azerbaijan) or Ferentsvaros (Hungary)
• Ludogorets (Bulgaria) or Dynamo Zagreb (Croatian)
• sheriff (Moldova) or Pilsen (Czech Republic)
• Bodo shine (Norway) or Salgiris Vilnius (Lithuania)
• Red Star (Serbia) or Punic (Armenia)

THIRD PRIORITY GROUP (5 GROUPS)

• Olympiacos (Greece) – Slovan (Slovakia)
• Malme (Sweden) – Dudelange (Luxembourg)
• shamrock Rover (Ireland) – Sweep (North Macedonia)
• Linfeld (Northern Ireland) – Zurich (Switzerland)
• Maribor (Slovenia) – Helsinki (Finland)

FOURTH PRIORITY GROUP (2 GROUPS)

• AEK Larnaca (Cyprus) – They were partisans (Serbia)
• Fenerbahçe (Turkey) – Slovak (Czech Republic)

* The drawing will take place on Tuesday 2nd August at 14:00

** The first games will be held on Thursday 18th August and the second on Thursday 25th of the month.

Group stage (32 teams)

FIRST SKILL GROUP (8 GROUPS)

1. Rome (Italy) 100,000
2. Manchester United (England) 105,000
3. arsenal (England) 80,000
4. Lazio (Italy) 53,000

FIRST OR SECOND CAPACITY GROUP

1. braga (Portugal) 46,000
2. Feyenoord (Netherlands) 40,000
3. wren (France) 33,000

FIRST OR SECOND OR THIRD OR FOURTH POTENTIAL GROUP

• 10 winners Europa League Playoffs
• 4 losers Champions League Playoffs
• 2 losers Champions League Playoffs (Non-Champions Path)
• 4 losers Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round (Non-Champion Path)

SECOND OR THIRD POTENTIAL GROUP

1. Real Sociedad (Spain) 26,000
2. betis (Spain) 21,000

SECOND OR THIRD OR FOURTH POTENTIAL GROUP

1. union (Germany) 15,042
2. Freiburg (Germany) 15,042
3. nantes (France) 12,016

* The draw will take place on Friday 26th August

On Thursday’s match night, Pantelis Vlachopoulos, along with Pantelis Diamantopoulos, Themis Kaisaris and Antonis Economidis, will comment on Olympiakos’ European Cazo, Pedro Martins’ future and the next day in the team, as well as any transfer developments.